The Transformer
¶And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel: and because of the Midianites the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and caves, and strong holds. And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them; And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it. And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the LORD. Judges 6:1 - 6 (KJV)
For seven years the Israelites were terrorized by the Midianites. They, together with the Amelakites and children of the East, made the Israelites’ lives a living hell. When they came they were not chosey about where they camped or what their animals ate. They acted as if all was theirs to have and do as they pleased. They had no respect for man, woman or child. No wonder the Isrealites fled to the caves and dens in the mountains. They were not an organized party but a bunch of marauders moving through the land, destroying everything in their path. Thus it was that by mere multitude and cruelty the Medianites party imposed themselves on the Israelites.
The Israelites had forgotten the Fear of God and now another fear had taken its place.
A more devastating fear;
A fear that debilitates and cripples;
A fear that leaves you helpless, a victim in the hands of the predator.
The Israelites had forgotten God. They had lost the fear of God and in its place had arisen the fear of men: The fear of the Midianites.
They now feared men who they had crushed once before.
They feared men who were nothing more than plunderers,
Men who were totally disorganized and
Men who lacked any type of proper leadership;
It was such men who terrorized the people of God. Men who at one time would not even dare to come to their door step.
It was within such a community that God came searching for a man and found Gideon. A victim of socialization;
For seven years his people had been oppressed by the Midianites.
For seven years they fled to the caves and dens in the mountains.
For seven years they had lived in fear and trepidation.
For seven years they lived as cowards, as men came and took food from their children’s mouth and clothes from their back.
For seven years they watched as men destroyed all that their hands had done. For seven years Gideon had been taught that he can do nothing about his situation. He had been taught that he was inferior to the others. He had been made into a coward. He was destined for an unfulfilling life and an unmarked grave.
Then, one day angel met him under an oak tree and so began a transformation that would change the course of his life forever. Judges 6: 11-14
¶And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? Judges 6:11 - 14 (KJV)
Here was Gideon hiding and threshing wheat, displaying all the attributes of a coward, and the angel of God addresses him as ‘thou mighty man of valour’. God is not so much interested in who you are but what you can be. God knows your true potential and the heights to which you can soar. Too often it is us who limit ourselves by our own warped self-concept.
For seven years he has lived a life of a coward. For seven years he has lived a life of fear, how could he be a man of valour. He knew that he had never done anything valiant in his entire life. But thanks be to God that we serve a God who calls thing yet to come as if they are. The future for him is just as secure as the present. God was beginning a work of transformation in his life that he would never have imagined. We serve a transforming God.
Gideon was still stuck in weakling mode, he was still operating on the old scrip created for him by his community. He began to blame God for the condition of himself and his people. Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. Why is it that people love to do that? Blame others for the things they have brought upon themselves!! Notice how he says that it was God who had forsaken them rather than, they who had forsaken God. It takes courage to step up to the plate and say it is I. And this was one thing Gideon lack. God had some work to do with Gideon and he intended to do so as long as Gideon allowed him.
The good news is that God is willing to work with us. All we have to do is follow Gideon’s example and be obedient. God will never give up on you!! He did not give up on Gideon. The bible tells us in verse 14 : And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?
The LORD looked upon him; It was probably one of those condescending looks that an adult gives a child who is trying to be rude. He was acting out of mere habit. Running on the script that had been written for him but God understood. The LORD looked at him in an understanding way and repeated his compliment, Go in thy might. He may not have heard it the first time but God had a lesson to teach him and he must be taught. Too often we are not listening the way we ought, to the voice of God but God is patient. His one intention is to transform us into his image, into what he would have us to be. It is his intention to give to us a new script.
One of the first steps in our transformation process is to openly acknowledge God as our God. God do not need secret service men or women. God needs men and women on the battle front dressed in the correct apparel such that everyone will know that they belong to the army of God. The first thing that God asked of Gideon is to throw down the altar of Baal:
Judges 6: 25-31 ¶And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it: 26 And build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down. 27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night..
If we are going to let the transformer change us then we must break the yoke which has held us down. What is it that is keeping you from serving God the way He would have you too? What is that obstacle that is preventing you from growing spiritually in Jesus Christ? It must be pulled down. Gideon was afraid, after all he cannot change overnight, he waited until dark, but he pulled that altar down and that was uptmost importance!! This in itself was an act of courage!! The transformation was beginning. Gideon could not turn back now. God had made him burn the bridge behind him. By this act he had to turn his friends and his community against him. Were it not for his father he would have been a dead man. The good news is now they could no longer influence him he was no longer prepared to live according to their script, a new script was being written for him.
The altar that you have in place of God’s must be pulled down and all evidence of it destroyed. The bridges that keep you connected to the old way must be burnt. Whether it is our love for our friends or our fear of losing them that prevent us from giving all to Jesus it must be destroyed. God’s altar must be erected in its stead. We must demonstrate courage on God’s behalf. Stop being fearful and place your faith in God. Watch the transformation take place in your life! As it did with Gideon. The story is told of a
Frederick Douglass on Escaping Slavery
Deliverance; Freedom; New Life; Redemption; Sin; Slavery
Matthew 19:29; Romans 6:1-18
Frederick Douglass who grew up as a slave in Maryland in the early nineteenth century and experienced slavery’s every brutality. He was taken from his mother when he was only an infant. For years as a child, all he had to eat was runny corn meal dumped in a trough that kids fought to scoop out with oyster shells. He worked in the hot fields from before sunup until after sundown. He was whipped many times with a cowhide whip until blood ran down his back, kicked and beaten by his master until he almost died, and attacked with a spike by a gang of whites.
But even so, when Frederick considered trying to escape to freedom, he struggled with the decision. He writes in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave that he had two great fears.
The first was leaving behind his friends:
I had a number of warm-hearted friends in Baltimore—friends that I loved almost as I did my life—and the thought of being separated from them forever was painful beyond expression. It is my opinion that thousands would escape from slavery, who now remain, but for the strong cords of affection that bind them to their friends.
His second fear was this: "If I failed in this attempt, my case would be a hopeless one—it would seal my fate as a slave forever."
They should take heart from Douglass’s experience. On September 3, 1838, he remembers:
I left my chains, and succeeded in reaching New York without the slightest interruption of any kind. . . . I have been frequently asked how I felt when I found myself in a free State. . . . It was a moment of the highest excitement I ever experienced. . . . I felt like one who had escaped a den of hungry lions.
Citation: Kevin A. Miller, editor and author, Wheaton, Illinois
Jesus declares in Mat. 19:29 29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
Whenever God calls on us to give up something he replaces it with something better. Gideon was now ready for the second stage of his transformation; Developing a trusting relationship with God. If God is going to use us we must have a trusting relationship with us. We must be willing to follow his script if we are to be transformed. God is willing to do what he can to help us develop that confidence in him. He did it for Gideon. Gideon asked that the dew be on the fleece only and it was so, then, he asked that the fleece be dry and God honoured his pray( Judges 6:36-40). God is willing to honour our prays as well if he sees that it would be beneficial to our spiritual development.
Gideon was now operating off the script God had written. The Mideanites had gathered but no longer was he willing to go and hide in the dens and caves and allow another to destroy his hard work. God’s spirit had come upon him and embolden him: He was ready. He needed reassurance and that he was given.
God is willing to bring us step by step along the way. He is ever willing to give us the Holy Spirit that we might be emboldened to fight the enemy. He is always there to support and encourage us. He says; behold I am with you even to the end of the world.
The Bible tells us in Judg. 7:1-7 that God caused the army to be reduced to three hundred men. God was about to make a point. God cannot use cowards. What God demands of us require courage! Thus Joshua was told to be courageous and Gideon was transformed to see his true potential.
God does not transform men to leave them idle but immediately they are put to good use for the kingdom. Gideon was still being transformed but as he worked he developed. God knowing that he needed encouragement give him the necessary encouragement in Judg. 7: 9-15 ¶And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand. 10 But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: 11 And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host. 12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude.13 And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.14 And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.15 And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.
God will do whatever is necessary to strengthen our faith. He knows exactly where we are and what we need as we go through the transformation process. Thus it was as Gideon saw the vast army before him, looking like grass hoppers and their camels like sand on the sea shore his heart must have wavered.
God knows what our fears are and as long as we are willing to trust him he will help us to defeat them. After hearing what the Midianite was saying Gideon was filled with enthusiasm. He was ready to carry out the task. With three hundred men, equipped with a trumpet, a jar and a torch Gideon was prepared. These men who had terrorized Israel for seven years were defeated by men carrying a trumpet, a torch and a pitcher.
God demonstrated to the Israelites the folly of fearing man. With God on our side we need not fear anyone. It is amazing what men suffer just because they refused to put they hand in God’s hand. God can do the same for us. He caused us to see that what we had feared need not be feared at all if we but place our trust in him.
God is calling on us to stop be fearful and be faithful. Let the transformer have his way in your life that you may be transformed into his image.
He transforms the weak into strong;
The foolish into wise;
The base into the exalted;
Shepherds into kings;
Fishermen into evangelist;
Cowards into heros
And sinners into saints
God can transform your life too, if you let him. He is the great transformer.
